Saturday, December 04, 2010

Grand Theatre, Lancaster

Some days you wake up thinking you know what the day has in store, but you end up doing something quite different. Today has been one of those and I've had a fantastic morning.

When I was at school I did drama and enjoyed acting in the odd school production. That faded away although I continued for a short time after that doing some set building at the Droylsden Little Theatre in Manchester.

Things then went quiet on that front until a few years ago when I met somebody on a train who had her own agency for extras and actors. Always enjoying theatre, film and TV I couldn't resist giving it a go, if nothing else to see what goes on behind the scenes, and registered with the agency. Since then I've been an extra, walk on and had featured parts in soaps such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale, shows such as Peter Kay's Britain's Got the Pop Factor..., dramas such as The Street and many more. It's great fun, can be long hours, isn't very well paid but you get to meet some really interesting people.

Then my mind wandered back to acting and I'm curently doing an acting for TV course and some months ago joined Lancaster Footlights, an amateur theatre group. I think I'm of an age now where I don't care about making a wally of myself, let's just have a go and see what happens is my attitude. So that's the introduction.

This morning I had to return a script for the Footlights' next production so popped along. The Footlights have a coffee morning on a Saturday so it's a good time to visit. At 10-30 there was a theatre tour and I was invited to join them. Why not? If you're in Lancaster any time you really should do the tour. The guide, Steve, was extremely knowledgeable and to see behind the scenes of such a splendid and historic theatre is a real pleasure. It's the third oldest continuously operating theatre in the country and I could spend hours just sat there soaking in the architecture and the atmosphere. It is even haunted by Sarah Siddons.

So I got home and decided to make some hot chocolate and blog about how I'd spent my morning. It's definitely worth a visit, as is Lancaster itself. So don't hang about, organise your transport, there's lots of great hotels, inns and B&Bs and lots to see, especially the Grand Theatre.